A Review - The Light Between Oceans – by M. L. Stedman

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-light-between-oceans-ml-stedman/1107086384

I just finished reading this novel last night. M. L. Stedman has to be one of the most outstanding writers of this century! I've never been so captivated, by not just character and story, but the atmosphere surrounding this lighthouse.  It was inescapable; a living thing, breathing life into all that it touched.... This will be in my review of The Light Between Oceans....once I stop crying long enough to write it!

Fortunately, I have stopped crying, but it was not easy reading these last few pages.  When I showered this morning, I am sure a pound of salt washed down the drain.  The salt air, my skin absorbed from these eloquent lines of Stedman, and the tears I shed for every one of these characters.  No, not just ONE character, but ALL of them.  I even shed tears for the Lighthouse, and the island it was on, if you can believe that!

The one word that jumps out at me from this reading is the word LOVE. 

This author didn’t miss a beat in showing us all sides and ramifications of that word.  She gave it to us in actions, deeds, requests, withdrawals; matters of the heart, the mind, the soul;  matters of the individuals, of the families, as adults, as children - nothing was missed in the telling of this story, even the love given to this Lighthouse was shown in glistening clarity.

Solitary confinement lurked around in this story – The distance one takes to protect oneself.... We dove into this solitary ocean like swimmers diving for treasures....we found love was being held captive by shy yet turbulent creatures. 

The message was deep, so very deep Stedman made us dive, and it hurt at times just trying to find that love, but when you did the brilliance shown like this solitary candle light from this Lighthouse.  Even though this Lighthouse never had a speaking part, it had a voice that spoke out like the light it gave...crystal clear, through storms, through calm, through uncharted territory, it spoke to the reader, as it spoke to the sea.

I love stories where there is no accounting for characters.  Predictable or unpredictable, that is the question we all have while reading.  I never knew until the end page what I was to be expected from this writer.  The only thing I did know throughout this story was, it holds something so personal that only the individual reader can interpret for themselves. 

We all make a life in this world and it’s up to us as individuals to interpret our own circumstances; making choices the best we know how, but not always knowing the outcome until it happens. The choices are ours, the responsibility is ours.  These characters had many choices in their lives, they may not have been the ones you would have made, or maybe they would. I can’t answer for you.  I only know I was torn in so many directions while reading these circumstances that these character’s faced, I didn’t know which line of thought my own mind wanted to follow.  It was real, as real and true as life itself.

I recommend reading this book if you take life seriously.    I recommend reading this book if you find your own choices too hard to make....after reading this book you will think twice, taking a double take on your own life.  I recommend reading this book....